1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus for providing a mobile body having an engine such as an automobile, with information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it is possible to obtain various information even within a moving vehicle by connecting to the Internet from a cellular phone or the like.
In order to obtain desired information via the Internet, the user has to input a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a site that provides the information or a search key word using a web browser.
It is, however, troublesome for a driver of the vehicle to perform operations other than driving to only acquire the desired information.
The present invention has been developed in order to overcome the above described problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an information providing apparatus suited for an engine-equipped mobile body that can easily obtain desired information.
According to the present invention, there is provided an information providing apparatus for providing mobile bodies with various information data, the respective mobile body having an engine, the information providing apparatus comprising a terminal device located in or on the respective mobile body for transmitting an information request signal in response to an operation of starting the engine of the respective mobile body, and an information providing device for transmitting information data to the respective mobile body""s terminal device upon receiving the information request signal.